“At our first meeting, Tristan kept saying he was Weld’s number one fan,” Kenzie joined in.

“Oh, that. Don’t remind me,” Tristan said.

“I won’t, then,” Kenzie said, deflating a little.

Tristan sighed, glancing at the rest of the room. “Nah, it’s no good to leave our guest in the lurch, and I’m supposed to be holding myself accountable. You might as well share, I’ll take my licks.”

“Alright,” Kenzie said, perking up considerably at the same time Tristan withered. “So Tristan kept saying it, casually mentioning the posters he had before, and he had merchandise.”

“Weld figurine, from his stint in the Boston Wards. One where he was wearing his first costume, too,” Tristan said. “I miss that thing.”

“I want one,” Sveta said. “Would it be weird if I had one?”

Kenzie continued, “So he kept saying all that, because he was so psyched he got to meet Weld. Then Sveta finally speaks up, and she was very quiet when she said it, but she said ‘I probably have you beat.’”

“I’m competitive,” Tristan said. “So I was pretty adamant that no, no she didn’t.”

Sveta looked like she was on top of the world, smiling to herself. She wiped at her face with one prosthetic hand—she still had tracks of tears on her face. I leaned closer, whispering. “Want a tissue?”

She nodded. I stood from my seat while the conversation continued.

“…And she says she’s his girlfriend,” Kenzie said.

Tristan sighed. “Yep.”

“She’s living with him, and they sleep in the same bed, and they make each other breakfast,” Kenzie said.

I liked the mental image. I liked that Sveta was smiling as much as she was.

“It’s hard to beat that,” Tristan said.

I collected a tissue from Mrs. Yamada’s desk, glancing at her. She seemed pretty unbothered by this, so far.

“I don’t think it’s about winning,” Sveta said.

I handed the tissue to Sveta as I retook my seat, and she set about patting her cheeks dry. A little bit more of the cover-up makeup came away from the tattoo.

“Yeahhhh,” Tristan drew out the word. He added, “Easy to say when you’re the clear winner.”

“That’s fair,” Sveta said.

“That’s a joke, by the way. I’m not being serious here.”

“Yeah,” Sveta said. “I was wondering there.”